Friday, October 2, 2009

#10 General Conference

BYU is, obviously, a university administered by the LDS church, which is why 91.734% of the student body is Mormon.

Being an LDS sponsored school, it is no surprise that the first weekends in April and October are a big deal—these are the weekends of General Conference. Five meetings over two days that encourage, teach, and guide Latter-Day-Saints all over the world. However, as a new participant in BYU culture, do not make the mistake of assuming that General Conference weekend is ALL about spiritual alignment.

BYU people have a few favorite activities for this special time of year. These include, and are pretty much limited to:• Traveling to Cabins• Going on Dates• Sleeping• Enjoying Girls Night/Priesthood Dinner• Attending Mormon Dances

As it is the first weekend in October, it seemed appropriate to give a brief run-down of each activity so you can choose the activity that suits your social needs.

Traveling to a Cabin:You may shy away from this option thinking, “My family doesn’t have a cabin.” Don’t worry, someone will invite you to theirs. One in every 2.375 BYU students has access to a cabin within 3 hours of P-Town. If you do spend the weekend at a cabin be prepared for games (endless hours of them), bonfires, eating, cuddling, eating, cuddling, and four wheeling. No, watching General Conference is not in that list, and yes, you can think that is weird.

Going on Dates:General Conference provides boys four opportunities to ask young co-eds to join them in a wholesome, uplifting activity. There is nothing a BYU guy likes more than taking a girl all dressed in her Sunday best up to Salt Lake City, and then making out with her afterward.

Sleeping:Instead of having to get dressed up to take a nap in a church building, BYU kids can now just do it in the comfort of their own apartment. Staying in pajamas all day really makes it convenient to sleep right through the meeting. While this is not a very social way to spend the weekend, it is still an extremely popular option. It is one of the reasons GC weekend is a Mormon favorite.

Enjoying Girls Night/Priesthood Dinner:Saturday night the boys go to Priesthood meeting, and the girls go to the mall. After the meeting, the guys go to dinner, and the girls get pedicures. After dinner fathers and sons spend quality time together, and the girls gossip about their boyfriends/husbands. It is a very uplifting evening for both genders. If you are a guy, go to Priesthood. If you are a girl, go to University Mall, find a group of women your age (there are options: ages 12-78) and inform them that you are dateless for the evening because you encouraged your boyfriend to go to Priesthood. They will invite you to Cold Stone with them.

Attending Mormon Dances:These events are advertised on the radio/facebook/internet for weeks before the big weekend. Any single person, no matter their dancing style, age, or hotness ranking can find a dance with lots of BYU kids just like them. This is also a chance to realize that there are LDS college kids outside of BYU. You don’t have to be LDS to go to one of these Conference dances, but it’s questionable why anyone would attend if they weren’t.

Best of luck choosing an activity. Enjoy your weekend. Maybe, if you get a chance, you could listen to a talk or two, but do not let it hinder your face time with other BYU kids.